Baby Daycare

6. juli 2017

Today I feel a bit blackmailed by the daycare system.

We received an offer on daycare for Maximilian at the same kindergarten that Felix currently goes to. It’s fantastic and means that we can drop off and pick up the boys from the same place. It’s an integrated kindergarten – Max will have a confirmed spot there when he goes from baby day care (vuggestue) to the kindergarten (børnehave). It also means that the boys can see and play with each other during the day, both inside and outside which makes me so happy especially since both me and their dad works long hours at times. It makes it much easier on the old mom-heart to know that Max has a familiar face there from the beginning.

So now for the bad part. He was offered the spot already from the beginning of September. I’m on maternity leave until end of October so that means that we will have to pay for two whole months that we won’t even need or use. Not cool at all.

After speaking to them, they let me know that if we turn the spot down we probably won’t be offered a new spot later on since the waiting list is so long and we will then have to start him on another daycare offer, which won’t even be in the daycare we chose as our nr. 2 request. There he is number 60 something on the waiting list…

So it’s bittersweet but we’re kind of forced to accept the spot (it would be a shame to turn it down) and I can’t help feeling annoyed about the whole system. Already with Felix we had to fight our way through to get a spot for him at a good place close to our home and I think it’s ridiculous to put your kid up on a waiting list when they’re 4 months to find out that they haven’t even made it close to the top of the waiting lists when you actually need the spot. It’s not financially possible for me or their dad to stay home longer even though we wish that Max would have more time home. He will start when he’s around 8,5 – 9 months, Felix started at 10 months.

I am still grateful though that we have such good possibilities when it comes to maternity and paternity leave here in Scandinavia, I just wish the system would be better at working together with you to find the best solutions for families.